Worcestershire farm saved from £300,000 tax bill

A farm in Worcestershire has been saved after tax specialists successfully negotiated tax relief worth up to £300,000.

The land was owned by a mother and father but farmed by their son, who was at risk of being forced to sell when his parents both died within a short period of each other.

Gary Priest, partner at Midlands law firm mfg Solicitors, had been working for the family before the parents passed away.

Mr Priest reviewed the family’s complex position on inheritance tax to help them claim agricultural property relief (APR) which would otherwise have been denied due to the ownership arrangements.

The father and son went into business as partners, but the father needed to survive for two years for relief from inheritance tax.

He passed away within the two-year period. After he died, the mother and son went into partnership, but she also tragically died within two years of becoming a partner.

However, she inherited her late husband’s business activity, which added together, exceeded two years allowing the relief to be claimed.

Mr Priest said: “This was a complicated case underpinned by a family tragedy – the loss of two loving parents within a few years of each other.

“The APR to which the family should have been entitled was worth a colossal sum of money – potentially £300,000 - and if we had not acted while both parents were still alive, the entitlement to the money would have been lost forever.

“They were a genuine, hard-working farming family who just happened to have a business out of step with the rules until they sought the right legal advice.”